Gaming machine

ABSTRACT

A gaming machine is disclosed, the machine having a plurality of spinning reels viewed through a flat transparent panel. Touch screen circuitry is bonded with said panel and forms an array of “touch points” or data inputs by which game operation can be effected.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a gaming machine, and particularly to agaming machine of the type for individual play that typically is knownas a ‘slot machine’, ‘fruit machine’, ‘poker machine’, or the like. Theinvention particularly relates to a gaming machine of the type havingmechanical spinning reels (typically 3 to 5 in number) that, in the playof a game, are set spinning by the player and after a predeterminedperiod of time come to a halt, with the result of the play dependingupon the displayed combination of the indicia on each reel alonghorizontal and/or, diagonal ‘win lines’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Mechanical spinning reel gaming machines are well known, and arecommonly referred to within the industry as ‘stepper’ machines becauseof being implemented by use of electrical stepper motors. Mechanicalreel gaming machines are operable by player-activated pushbuttoncontrols and/or a mechanical lever arm.

[0003] Gaming machines that utilize a video monitor to graphicallyrepresent the spinning reels also are well known. Such gaming machinessimilarly incorporate pushbutton controls, although more recentlyprovide for touch screen control by means of controls bonded to theouter surface of the video monitor. There are difficult technicalproblems associated with bonding touch screen controllers to curvedvideo monitor screens, requiring the use of packing materials at theedge margins and sophisticated data processing techniques to ensure aregular array of touchable screen ‘points’ and linearity between suchpoints.

[0004] Even though video gaming machines utilize moretechnologically-advanced component parts, there still is a significantdemand amongst players of gaming machines for the older-style spinningreel machine.

[0005] The present invention broadly provides a mechanical spinning reelgaming machine that incorporates touch screen controls.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] Therefore, in one broad form, the invention discloses a gamingmachine comprising one or more mechanical spinning game reels, a flattransparent panel located in front of the reels and through which thereels can be viewed, touch screen circuitry bonded to the flat panel,and control means for receiving signals from the touch screen circuitryand controlling the play of a game, including spinning of the reels.

[0007] In one preferred form, the touch screen circuitry can be bondedto the exterior surface of the panel. Alternatively, the touch screencircuitry can be applied to the interior surface of the panel. Thegaming machine can be mounted in a cabinet or housing, with the panelforming a component part of the exterior surface of the cabinet orhousing.

[0008] In a particularly preferred form, a graphical transfer also canbe attached to the panel. The transfer most preferably will be attachedto the interior surface of the panel.

[0009] The invention further discloses a gaming machine assemblycomprising a flat transparent panel and touch screen circuitry appliedto a surface of the panel.

[0010] A particular advantage of the invention arises for the gamingmachine manufacturer, in that there is great flexibility in theconfiguration of mechanical spinning reel machines that was nototherwise easily achievable. Furthermore, there are significantcommercial advantages for the manufacturer given that it is believedthere will be great player acceptability of gaming machines embodyingthe invention. It is also believed that there will be savings in themanufacturing unit cost of such a gaming machine because the cost ofimplementation of the touch screen circuitry will be less than thecabinet work, circuitry and components of the conventional pushbuttoncontrols that are replaced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] An embodiment of the invention now will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0012]FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional mechanical spinning reelgaming machine;

[0013]FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a gaming machine embodyingthe present invention;

[0014]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the screen of the gamingmachine of FIG. 2;

[0015]FIG. 4 is a front view of the touch screen of FIG. 3;

[0016]FIGS. 5 and 6 show the mechanical arrangement of the touch screencircuitry applied to the flat screen of the gaming machine; and

[0017]FIGS. 7a to 7 b are component schematic block diagrams of thetouch screen controller unit.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS AND BEST MODE

[0018]FIG. 1 shows a conventional (prior art) mechanical spinning reelgaming machine 10 that includes a housing (or cabinet) 12, a controlpanel 14, and a front flat screen 16, usually fabricated from glass or atransparent plastics material, and behind which (i.e. inside thecabinet) is located the mechanical spinning reel assembly 18. Theoperation of the gaming machine 10 is by an electronic controller (notshown) located within the cabinet 12 and having connection with thecontrol panel 14 and the spinning reel assembly 18.

[0019] As is well known, the play of the gaming machine 10 occurs by theplayer typically selecting the number of units to be wagered by means ofone(s) of the pushbuttons 20, and possibly also the number of “winlines” to be activated, followed by activation of the “play” pushbutton.The controller then causes the individual reels 22 to be set intospinning motion and to stop at predetermined times, with the outcome ofthat player of the game being represented by the indicia appearing alongthe win line(s).

[0020] Referring now to FIGS. 2-4, a gaming machine 30 embodying theinvention will now be described. As with a conventional mechanicalspinning reel gaming machine, the present gaming machine 30 has a flatfront screen 16. As particularly shown in FIG. 3, the flat screen 16 hasbonded to it touch screen circuitry 34, in this case conveniently beingto the side of the glass 16 external of the cabinet 12. Theconfiguration and bonding process will presently be described.

[0021] The rear side of the flat screen 16 has attached to it anadhesive graphic transfer 36. The location of a graphical display 38behind the transfer 36 can, be best seen in FIG. 3. As particularlyshown in FIG. 4, a player of the gaming machine 30 is presented with aview through the flat screen 16 of the transfer 36 displayingindicia/icons that are co-located with particular ‘touch points’ of thetouch screen assembly 34 that correspond with the illustrated function(for example “collect”, “reserve”, etc.). Two lower window portions 40,42 of the graphical transfer 36 allow the graphical display 38 to beviewed, by which information concerning available credits and other gamefunctions, instructions or advertising (for example) can be presented tothe player. Five upper windows 44-52 allow each of the spinning reels 18to be viewed by the player.

[0022] Therefore, in play of the gaming machine 30, a player presses thescreen 32 at a ‘touch point’ in the region of the desired displayedindicialicons to effect the respective machine operation, that actionbeing signaled by the touch screen assembly 34 to a game controller, aspresently will be described. The game controller then causes the reels18 to spin, stopping the reels after a predetermined time and displayingor otherwise indicating to the player the result of that play of thegame.

[0023] Returning to the schematic block diagram of FIG. 2, the touchscreen assembly 34 connects to a touch screen controller unit 60 by aninterconnecting cable 62 carrying analog data. The controller can besuch as the present applicant's assembly No. 754-239-00 controller. Inturn, the touch screen controller connects with a game microprocessorassembly 64 on a bus 66 that operates under a proprietary, serialprotocol, known as “Netplex ”. The game microprocessor assembly 64, canbe such as the present applicant's 80960 game controller (assembly No.755-085-00). The game microprocessor assembly 64 has control over thestepper motors and sensor optics 65 for the spinning reel assemblies andthe graphical display 38. Yet further, the microprocessor assembly 64has connection with I/O board 68 by a cable 70 under control of aproprietary interface known as “Senet”. The I/O board 68 can be such asthe present applicant's assembly No. A33-006-14 I/O board. The I/O board68 has 10 control over the machine peripheral equipment, includingbuttons, lights and electromechanical meters.

[0024] Representative details of the touch screen assembly 34, and touchscreen controller 60 are included in U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/294,227 (equivalent to Australian Patent Application No. 24957/95assigned to the present applicant), the contents of which areincorporated herein by cross-reference. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6,fabrication of the touch screen assembly 36 applied to the flat-screen16 will be described. In this embodiment, the screen 16 is constructedof glass and is approximately 500 mm in length, 340 mm in height and 5mm thick. Four electrodes 80 are screened onto the glass panel 16 with asilver frit glass mixture. The electrodes are constructed of aconductive material suitable for the soldering of attachment wires 90-96by use of a low temperature solder 82. A representative length of thetop and bottom electrodes is 290 mm, with a separation of 320 mm. Thelength of the left side and right side electrodes is 245 mm with aseparation of 480 mm. A conductive coating of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) 84of approximately 700 25 ohms/sq is applied over the top of theelectrodes 80 by a vacuum deposition process. A protective hard coat ofsilicon dioxide 80 then is placed over the ITO layer to protect the ITOlayer 84 from scratching and to provide electrical insulation. Thecoating preferably is to a thickness of 20,000 Angstroms.

[0025] For a configuration of the dimensions described, the useable areaof the flat screen 16 for touch screen operation is about 25 cm×40 cm,this being the area between the electrodes. The touch screen assembly 34of the dimensions described typically results in a 5×7 array of discrete‘touch points’. Finally, an edge shielding 5 not shown) is placed aroundthe perimeter of the glass screen 16 to isolate the touch screenassembly 34 from surrounding conductive material, and further to reducethe incidence of leakage currents that might otherwise cause spurioussignals that might bemistaken for a “touch”.

[0026] Referring now to FIGS. 7a-7 f, further details of the touchscreen controller unit 60 will be given. The touch screen assembly 34connects with the touch screen controller unit 60 by a cable 62 as haspreviously been described. The cable can be a four conductor shieldedcable, such as the part no. 9534 manufactured by Belden Cable of theUnited States.

[0027] As particularly shown in FIG. 7a, the electrodes 80 each are A.C.coupled to a differential amplifier stage 100 via 10 uF capacitors. Thedifferential amplifier stage consists of four separate amplifiers. Thegain of each amplifier is 2000. The amplifiers amplify the differencebetween the 11.0592 kHz signal sent to the ‘Screen Drive 0’ (describedpresently) and the signal returning from the touch screen circuitry 34.The output of the differential amplifier is A.C. coupled to the fourBessel band pass filters 102-108. The gain of the Bessel band passfilter stage is about 6, and the stage filters out any signal that isnot within the pass band frequency of the filter. The center frequencyof the Bessel band pass filter stage is set to the same frequency as thescreen drive 11,0592 kHz.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 7f, a Dallas 80C320 microprocessor crystal 16 isdivided down from 22,1184 MHz into two frequencies. One of thefrequencies is used to clock the Bessel band pass filter Stage. Thisfrequency is 100 times the center frequency of the Bessel band passfilter stage, and is 1.10592 MHz. The other frequency is 1.10592 kHz.This frequency is A.C. coupled to the auto gain control circuitry 110shown in FIG. 7c which is controlled by a Dallas 80C320 microprocessor130. The microprocessor changes the gain of the auto gain controlcircuitry 110 so proper screen drive is accomplished. The output of theauto gain control circuitry 110 is connected to a second orderButterworth low pass filter 112, that is used to remove some of thehigher order harmonics from the auto gain control circuitry 110. The −3dB point on the low pass filter is set at approximately 11 kHz. Thesignal out of the low pass filter 112 is A.C. coupled to ‘Screen Drive0’, and D.C. coupled to the differential amplifier stage 100.

[0029] The four outputs from the Bessel band pass filter stages 102-108are connected to a channel multiplexer 120, as shown in FIG. 7c. Themicroprocessor 130 controls the output of the channel multiplexer, whichis connected to an analog buffer 122. The analog buffer has a gain of−1, and its output is connected to a analog-to-digital converter 124.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 7f, the microprocessor 130 is supported byseveral I.C.s. The system RAM 132 is an 8 k by 8 in which the bootprogram is stored. The system program is stored in two different I.C. s,The size of the EPROM is 32 k by 8, however only the first 8 k by 8bites are used. The main program and calibration data is stored in theFLASH memory I.C. 136. The watch dog timer I.C. 138 is used to reset themicroprocessor 130 if it fails to execute the instructions properly. Theinterface 140 of the “NETPLEX” is isolated, and is the presentapplicant's 960 NETPLEX Interface. Additional I.C.s 142, 144 are usedfor memory decoding, address latching, and signal conditioning.

[0031] Operation of the gaming machine 30 otherwise proceeds as isconventionally the case:

We claim:
 1. A gaming machine comprising one or more mechanical spinninggame reels; a flat transparent panel located in front of the reels andthrough which the reels can be viewed; touch screen circuitry bonded tothe flat panel, and control means for receiving signals from the touchscreen circuitry and controlling the play of a game, including spinningof the reels.
 2. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein said touchscreen circuitry includes at least one pair of electrodes located atopposed edge margins of said panel, said electrodes being driven toproduce an array of discrete regions on said panel defining inputpoints.
 3. The gaming machine of claim 2 , wherein said touch screencircuitry is applied to the exterior surface of said panel.
 4. Thegaming machine of claim 3 , further comprising a graphical transferattached to the interior surface of said panel, the transfer permittinga view of said reels.
 5. The gaming machine of claim 1 , furthercomprising a cabinet housing said reels and said control means, andwherein said panel forms a component part of the exterior surface ofsaid cabinet.
 6. A gaming machine assembly comprising a flat transparentpanel and touch screen circuitry applied to a surface of said panel. 7.The gaming machine assembly of claim 6 , wherein said touch screencircuitry includes at least one pair of electrodes located at opposededge margins of said panel, said electrodes being driven to produce anarray of discrete regions on said panel defining input points.
 8. Thegaming machine assembly of claim 7 , wherein said touch screen circuitryis applied to the exterior surface of said panel.